I truly admire any teacher who can work in that kind of situation and not run
screaming for the door. Me, I couldn't do it. I love my school. It has a
variety of nationalities (we just got five new families in the area from
Korea, whose kids don't speak any English) but it's mostly upper class and
the kids are mostly well mannered with parents around who are involved. We
have over 300 volunteers and on any given day, 50 or more will be at the
school. I grew up in small town USA and even though I live near a large city
now, I've never been exposed to the type of situations you find in inner city
schools every day.I never met a black person until I was 12 years old and
there just weren't other nat ionalitiesarouond . There was only 200 people in
my HIgh School class and the biggest behavior problem was streaking during
assemblies. (shows my age, huh)
Those kids in the i nner cities schools need teachers who care.Who can deal
with the challenges. There are so many kids that come from homes where no
one cares, or are too busy to care. Keep up the good work and remind
yourself that even if you only reach and help one child, you've done a
wonderful thing. I'm sure there are many kids who even though they might not
show it, can't wait for art class because it's the only place they can be
successful. I admire you all. JH